


5 Beach Day Activities and 1 Home Remedy

by BunnyMask



Series: Mystic Haven: The Magic Tower [7]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Aqua is a witch, Day At The Beach, Gen, Mentioned Naminé (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas Xion and Naminé are six, Roxas is a manticore, Sora is a secret, Sora is seven, Terra is a Golem, Vanitas is a batfolk, Ven and Vanitas are twelve, Ventus is a birdfolk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25900303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyMask/pseuds/BunnyMask
Summary: The residents of the tower take a trip to the beach:Kids fight, a story is told, and someone gets a sunburn.
Relationships: Aqua & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Terra & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Mystic Haven: The Magic Tower [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1522583
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	5 Beach Day Activities and 1 Home Remedy

1 - Reading Books

It was a hot day, only made hotter by the fact that they were at the beach. The only beach near the Tower was on the other side of Destiny Kingdom, so they'd taken the teleportation room to a different one. It was a narrow, but long beach under a cliff. Aqua told them not to get too far from the shore. She said that there were sirens further out.

Ven was done with the heat, so he was by the cliffside. He’d taken refuge in the books he'd brought along. With his head in a book, he could forget about everything. He wondered how Vanitas was taking the heat. He wasn’t fond of extreme weather conditions.

Sora walked up. He sat next to Ven and put his face in his arms.

"Hello, Sora."

"Hello," and he did a big exaggerated sigh.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

…

…

…

"Roxas is mean! He gets mad at me all the time!"

"Oh," Ven put his book down. "You and Roxas got into another fight?"

Those two just couldn't seem to get along recently. It seemed they were fighting every single day. It was the main reason they'd come to the beach. Aqua thought a change of scenery might do the two some good.

"I didn't even do anything. He just gets all fiery just looking at me!" Sora looked down at his feet. "I don't think I want to be his best friend anymore."

"I see." That didn't seem good, but Roxas wasn't making things easy for Sora. "What about Xion and Naminé? Can you be best friends with them?"

"They're already each other's best friends."

"Oh." Ven thought for a moment. "I'll be your best friend then."

"I don't want you to be my best friend. I want to marry you!"

"Oh. Then Vanitas can be your best friend."

"He gets mad all the time, too." Sora put his head back down "Plus, he's your best friend."

"He is?" 

"Yea! You two know everything about each other and you came together..." Sora sighed. 

Ven frowned. He’d never seen Sora so down before… What was he supposed to do? What would make him feel better?

"Sora," Ven put a hand in Sora's hair, "It's going to be okay."

Sora leaned into his palm. "I think Roxas hates me now."

"I don't think he hates you."

"But he keeps getting mad at me!"

"I think it's probably something else and he's taking it out on you," Ven frowned.

"That's not nice."

"It's not, so you can hang out with me until he starts being nicer."

"Okay," Sora smiled. "Whatcha reading?"

Ven opened his book back up. "I brought a book about sea creatures."

Sora leaned on him as he read. He hoped Sora and Roxas would make up soon. It was sad to see them fight. Well, until they made up, Ven would do his best to keep Sora company.

2 Building Sand Castles

Aqua was sitting in the sand. She was doing her best to shape the sand without magic. When they were younger, the older kids at Mystic Haven used to tease her about using water to shape the castles. They said it defeated the purpose. Xion and Naminé weren't far off, picking up shells. Vanitas was leaning on the cliff, eyes closed.

"Sora's sad." Vanitas opened his eyes.

Aqua looked up. "Aw, why?"

"He says he doesn't want to be best friends with Roxas anymore."

“They got into a pretty bad fight,” Vanitas sat down next to her castle. "Worse than usual. Roxas told Sora he was more annoying than a rash."

"What's with those two lately?" Aqua sighed. "They didn't even used to fight when Roxas and Naminé got here."

"I don’t really get it either," Vanitas poked at the sand. "Ever since that day in the forest, he's been irritated with Sora."

"It's distressing. Sora used to be the only one he got along with."

Vanitas's ears perked up. Oh, he wanted a story.

"When I led them here, Roxas wouldn't let anyone near Naminé."

_ The two hadn't even left the room they were staying in. _ They wouldn't leave it. It was obvious that the two didn't trust them. Whatever they'd experienced at Diz's lab had put their faith solely in the hands of each other. 

_ Aqua smiled at Vanitas, "Sound familiar?" _

"Maybe it's because you, Terra, and Yen Sid are weird," Vanitas stuck out his tongue.

Aqua laughed. "Are we?"

"Extremely weird," Vanitas smiled.

"Ha," Aqua patted the walls of her castle. "Back then Roxas was especially volatile."

_ He was short-tempered and prone to attack at the slightest implication of danger. _ So far, he'd bitten Yen Sid and Terra. He'd tried to do the same to Aqua, but Terra had gotten between them. That time Roxas had even dug his claws into him. Aqua wasn't a healer, but she did her best to patch the two up.

They were lucky he was just a cub or he could have done worse damage. Aqua considered that it might freak him out less if only one of them entered at a time. That seemed to work a bit better.

"Aqua!" Sora ran up behind her. "When can I meet them?"

Aqua stopped. She crouched down. "I'm sorry, Sora, Yen Sid is worried you'll get hurt, so you can't meet them yet."

_ "Typical Yen Sid,"  _ Vanitas rolled his eyes.

"Well, he worries about Sora a lot, you know."

"I know."

"Of course, you've probably heard." Aqua shook her head, "Eavesdropping is a bad habit, Vanitas."

"You call it eavesdropping, I call it survival."

Maybe one day he'd feel comfortable enough not to tune into every sound, but it seemed they weren't there yet.

"Where was I? Ah, right. Sora was pretty disappointed that he couldn't meet them, so I let him tag along with the promise that he'd stay by the door."

_ Aqua opened the door. "Good morning!" _

Roxas was sitting at the foot of the bed. Naminé was laying in bed, holding her doll. She was red in the face and breathing heavily.

"Naminé," Aqua sat the food on the dresser, "Are you feeling sick?"

Naminé looked at her and then rolled over, facing away from Aqua.

"If you're not feeling well," Aqua reached out to her. Roxas swiped her hand.

"She doesn't want to talk to you!"

"If she's sick, then I need to help her."

Roxas got between the two. His ears flattened as he glared at her.

"Hey," Sora popped his head in. "It's okay. Master Aqua is really going to help."

"Sora," Aqua turned to look at him. "What were you supposed to do?"

"Stay outside, but he's just scared." Sora tilted his head, "He doesn't feel dangerous at all."

Roxas didn't seem to like that at all because he pounced on Sora. They hit the ground with a thud. He had Sora pinned.

"I am dangerous! I'm not scared."

"Roxas," Aqua took a step forward, "hold on."

"It's okay, Master Aqua," Sora grinned. "He won't hurt me."

"Yes, I will!"

"No, you won't."

He seemed very sure. Aqua's eyes darted to Naminé. She took a step back and put her hand on her head. "She's burning up."

Roxas ran back to the bed. He looked at Naminé with big worried eyes. Sora climbed into the bed.

"Hey!" Roxas glared at him.

Sora put his hand on Naminé's head. "Wow! Hot!"

Roxas climbed up to and laid next to Naminé. Aqua went to get medicine and supplies. When she returned, she tended to Naminé. Roxas glared at, swiped at, and growled at her, throughout the treatment. He didn't make a single attempt at Sora though. In the end, she had to let Sora take over.

_ "That's when I realized, he was afraid of adults." _ Aqua frowned, "they both were. For a long time, Sora was the only one who could get near them."

"So, they always got along?"

Aqua nodded. "They've never fought like this before."

Vanitas frowned. He was worried.

"Vanitas, I want to thank you."

"For what?"

"For looking out for Roxas." Aqua poked some windows into her castle. "I try, but I don't always understand him. I think you're the only one he opens up to these days."

"I don't know how much I can help."

"Sometimes all it takes is having someone who listens."

"If you say so."

"Has it been a while since Naminé and Xion left?"

"They went with Roxas and Sora to find shells."

"When was that?"

Vanitas shrugged. "A little while ago."

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Aqua frowned.

“You said I should stop eavesdropping.”

“And you haven’t.”

“Which is why I didn’t tell you,” Vanitas stuck out his tongue. 

Aqua huffed.

Vanitas stood up. "I'll keep an eye on them."

"Okay, be back by lunch."

Vanitas nodded before flying off.

3 Finding Shells

“I hate the beach!” Roxas sat on the towel laid out in the sand.

“No, you don’t!” Sora stomped his foot, “You love the beach!”

“Not anymore!”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re here!”

“You guys,” Xion stood between them, “we’re here to have fun!”

Sora crossed his arms. It  _ was _ supposed to be fun. When Aqua had told him they were going to the beach, he was so excited! He loved the beach and everyone always had fun at the beach, but Roxas was being extra prickly today. He was annoyed and Sora could feel it, so Sora was annoyed too.

"Let's look for shells!" Xion linked arms with both of them. "That'll be fun, right?"

"Yea," Naminé grabbed Roxas's arm, "you'll come, right? It won't be fun without you."

Roxas's irritation fell lower. It was still there, but different emotions were rising. Mainly guilt, but there was also some happiness. Naminé and Xion were the only ones who could make him chill out. When it was Sora he just got so angry. What had Sora ever done to him?

They all went looking for shells. Sora wanted to find some of the shells in Ven's book. Instead, he found some sea glass. It was a pretty kind of green, like Ven's eyes. Sora put them in his shell bag. He stared at the ocean. It pushed and pulled back and forth at a steady pace. Sora watched. He almost felt like he would fall asleep. When his brain was quiet like this, he could almost completely keep everyone's feelings out of his head. It was like when he was with Ven.

Excitement! Like a bright sun on a lovely day, Sora looked for the source. It was Xion. She was climbing some rocks by the cliff. Sora walked over. Along with the jagged rocks, there were a few holes. Some of the holes were pools of water, but the others were just more rock.

"Xion, what are you doing?"

"There's a pretty flower," she pointed to the cliffside.

The flower was pretty high up. Sora frowned. "Xion, leave it alone! You're gonna get hurt!"

"No, I won't!"

"Xion!" Sora stomped, "Seriously!"

"Hey," Naminé walked up with Roxas, "get down from there."

Xion sighed. "Fine." She started down, "You guys are no fun." She slipped.

They all screamed and ran towards her. And then they were piled on top of each other, at the bottom of a hole. Roxas was at the bottom, then Sora, Naminé was on top of them, holding Xion.

"Everyone okay?" Roxas lifted up just a bit.

They all were.

They managed to unpile themselves. They tried to climb out of the hole, but it was too deep and the smooth rocky walls made climbing hard. They decided to call for help, but after forever no one came.

Panic, like an earthquake shaking a room, everyone was starting to get scared. Sora felt sick.

"Everyone, calm down, please."

"Ugh!" Roxas glared at him. Irritation like a fire against the skin, "Stop trying to tell everyone how to feel!"

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! You're so annoying!"

"Roxas," Naminé scolded. "Stop being mean."

That hurt his feelings a lot.

"You think I'm mean?"

"Sometimes," Naminé pulled at her skirt. "Sora's can feel our feelings. Why do you bother lying?"

Roxas glared at Sora. Sora frowned.

"I don't think I want to be best friends anymore."

Roxas's emotions changed too quickly to read but landed on anger.

"Fine!" He crossed his arms.

"Fine," Sora looked away.

"Sora, Roxas," Xion grabbed both their hands, "you don't mean that?"

"Yes, we do!" Roxas snatched away.

"Sora," Xion grabbed both his hands and looked him in the eyes, "You didn't mean it, right?"

Sora looked down.

"Xion, stop," Naminé took her hands off of Sora. 

Xion looked at all three of them then burst into tears. "This is my fault!"

Naminé patted her head. "No, it's not."

"I got us stuck here! I just wanted to show everyone the flower. I wanted us to be happy, again." Xion sat down covering her face, "I don't like when you fight. You three are my best friends!"

There were so many bad feelings, they were so heavy. Sora sat down, wiping away the tears pouring from his eyes. 

"Sorry," the tears wouldn't stop, "I don't like when we fight either."

Roxas and Naminé agreed.

"I'm sorry," Roxas sat down next to Sora, "I don't mean to get mad."

"I don't mean to be annoying."

Roxas opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but looked away instead.

"I'm sorry, too," Naminé sat next to Roxas, "You're not mean, Roxas."

"Yea, I am."

It was quiet.

"Alright," Vanitas's voice came from above, "are you brats ready to get out of the hole?"

Roxas stood up. "You knew we were down here?!"

"Duh," Vanitas offered a hand, "so you want out or what?"

Of course, they did. Vanitas got them out of the hole.

4 Eating Lunch

As Terra set up lunch, Aqua scolded Vanitas about leaving the kids in a hole. Overall, the kids seemed to be in a better mood, despite the whole hole-thing though. That was good.

The kids sat down to eat.

Terra looked around. Ven wasn't there. That was strange. Ven was never late to lunch. He had gone off to find everyone for lunch, but everyone was already back. Hopefully, he hadn't flown too far off.

Ven flew overhead. Good, he was back.

"You found them," Ven winced as he landed. His skin was as red as a fresh strawberry.

"Vanitas found them," Terra couldn't take his eyes off of him. They'd only been there for a couple of hours. How was he this badly burned? "Ven, didn't you put on sunblock before we left?"

"What's that?"

Of course. There's no way Xehanort had ever taken the two to a day of fun at the beach. And even if he had, sunblock wouldn't have been a top priority.

"Aqua," Terra waved at her. Her eyes drifted from Vanitas to him and then widened as they fell on Ven.

Aqua rushed over. She splashed Ven with water and created a floating ice disk to block the sun from him. 

"How do you feel?" She put her hands out like she was going to touch him, but stopped herself.

"Bad?"

"Vanitas, keep an eye on the kids!"

Aqua went to work creating a cool area, filled with water and shaded by ice. Terra put Ven in while Aqua left to open the portal back to the tower.

"Are we going back to the tower?" Ven tilted his head.

"Yea?" Terra looked at him. "That's a pretty bad sunburn, Ven."

"I see," he sunk lower into the water.

"What's wrong?" Terra sat down.

"I ruined everyone's fun."

"No, you didn't," Terra ruffled Ven's hair. "We can come back to the beach anytime."

"Okay."

It was quiet. Ven kept looking at him and then looking away.

"Yes?"

"What does it mean to be someone's best friend? I told Sora I'd be his best friend, but I don't think it helped him feel better."

"Ah, well, a best friend is someone close to you, who you trust more than anyone else."

"Do you have a best friend?"

"Aqua."

"But you two are married."

"That happens sometimes."

"Oh… so is Vanitas my best friend?"

"I don't know, only you can answer that."

"Okay." Ven dunked his face in the water. He pulled it out and shook his head. "Let's come back here soon. When I was flying I saw a castle on one of the cliffs!"

Ah. That's why this beach felt so familiar.

"Did you?"

Ven nodded. "So can we come back here?"

Terra nodded. "Yea, another time."

Ven smiled then began talking about aquatic creatures. He was hoping to find some next time.

Terra sat and listened.

5 Taking Naps

After lunch, Naminé dozed off. She hadn't fainted, had she? She hadn't been doing too much stuff, so she was probably fine. Roxas was careful as he put his hand on her head. No fever, so she didn't faint. Whenever she fainted, she got a fever. Xion laid down next to her and Sora laid down next to Xion. They both fell asleep in moments. They must've been sleepy from playing at the beach.

Roxas went to get a blanket. When he got back, they were more of a pile, arms, and legs all over the place. They looked calm, especially Sora. Roxas balled the blanket in his hands. He was getting mad again. Why was he getting mad? He took a breath. He unfolded the blanket and laid it over the three of them.

Roxas found Vanitas sitting on some nearby rocks. Roxas stood there for a while, trying to find the right words. He finally did.

"Sora's not like me."

Vanitas looked at him. He didn't say anything, but his eyes were on Roxas.

"He has claws and wings and fangs and he's hard to hurt and strong, but he's not dangerous!" Roxas had always thought they were the same, but everything was easy for Sora. "He can just do whatever he wants without causing trouble. It's not fair!"

"Roxas," Vanitas was quiet for a minute. He took a breath. Roxas looked down. "You envy Sora."

"I envy him?"

"You wish you were like him."

"Oh. Yea."

"Alright," Vanitas jumped down, landing in the sand beside Roxas. "Here's the deal. I've been trying to figure out the best way to help you control your strength, but it's not like I'm an expert…"

So, it was hopeless...

"I guess we'll just wing it."

Huh?

"Wing it?"

"Sure, it's better than doing nothing." Vanitas stretched, "We'll start tomorrow."

"Okay," Roxas looked down, "thanks."

"And?"

"And?"

"You and Sora."

"Me and Sora?"

"It's going to be okay, Roxas." Vanitas ruffled his hair.

And it kind of felt like it would be okay. Vanitas made him feel like that a lot.

1 Treating Sunburn

Several headcounts and a step through a magic door and they were back at the tower. Aqua rushed off with Ventus, keeping him damp with magic and telling him they had to act quickly if they wanted it to heal fast and hurt less.

Vanitas helped Terra get the kids all cleaned up from the beach. 

Vanitas frowned as he watched Roxas. There were two issues here. The first was Roxas's instincts thinking that excitement = hunting. The bigger issue was Roxas's complete lack of confidence in his ability to not break everything. Obviously, he could manage fine from day to day, it wasn't like he broke everything he touched. He did seem to think that was the case though…

"You really care, huh?" Ventus sat down on the couch, wincing. He was holding a bucket filled with rags and some kind ointment.

"How long have you been there?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ventus stuck out his tongue.

Vanitas rolled his eyes. Ven plucked out a rag and ran it across his arm. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. Vanitas took the rag. He started helping Ven apply the ointment.

"Living here is making you nice."

"Yea, right." Vanitas dropped a rag on Ventus's face.

Ventus shook the rag off, "Hey, Vanitas?"

"What?"

"Are we best friends?"

Right. He had heard Ventus talking about that with Sora and Terra.

"Oh my gods, living here is making you so mushy."

Ventus frowned. "Never mind." He put the rag back over his face.

Vanitas looked away from him. "You're like my only friend, so I guess that makes you the best by default."

Ventus lifted the rag a bit, "What about Aqua and Roxas?" He smiled, "Aren't they your friends?"

Vanitas dumped the rest of the bucket on Ven. He jumped.

"Vanitas!"

"I'm leaving. Get some rest, Ventus," Vanitas got up and walked out.

"Will do,  _ best friend. _ "

"Shut up!" Vanitas started up the stairs.

He heard Ventus laughing. Vanitas smiled. Best friends, huh? He could live with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!
> 
> I hope everyone is doing well! 
> 
> Have any of you seen BNA? I ask because I just started watching it and the way they transform is how I imagine the transformation between magical forms and human forms work in the Mystic Haven Series.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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